Juniper Research: More than 2.5 billion augmented reality apps to be installed on mobile phone per year by 2017

In its latest report, Juniper Research is looking at the market for augmented reality apps, predicting that by 2017, over 2.5 billion mobile augmented reality (AR) apps will be downloaded to smartphones and tablets per annum. To put this number into perspective, that’s 3.5 times the number of downloads achieved by Angry Birds in 2011!

The research company believes that major retail and entertainment brands will fuel interest for this app category. For instance, retailers can bring more internet-like experience into their stores, allowing consumers to access detailed information on a product simply by pointing their camera at it. Entertainment brands, on the other hand, will drive usage by pointing consumers to download AR apps and try them out with products that they are familiar with.

At the moment, the average consumer doesn’t know much about augmented reality apps. In that sense, Juniper says that many AR apps will not be able to find the size of audience they need to break even and advertisers may find that they are unable to reach their target demographic.

Some other findings from the report include:

Purchases made using AR apps, such as physical goods purchased after accessing AR advertising content, will become a key revenue stream for the mobile AR industry.

We will see an increasing number of playsets, such as those produced by WowWee, which combine physical toys with a game on a smartphone or tablet.

And you can get additional information about Juniper’s report from their website.